It seems that the whole horror community is already buzzing about the FRIGHTEN BRIGHTON CLASSIC HORROR FILM FESTIVAL which takes place on Saturday 11th August 2012 from 12 noon! Join your horror hosts CYBERSCHIZOID and SCARE SARAH along with special guest star EMILY BOOTHand sponsors HEMLOCK BOOKSfor a whole day celebrating classic horror films through the decades from the 1930’s to the 1970’s at The Komedia, Brighton’s premier entertainment venue.

Here are what some of the horror websites, blogs and magazines have been saying about Frighten Brighton:

Cyberschizoid & Scare Sarah are the guest hosts of The Basement Cinema cult movie night at The Globe public house in Brighton! We asked you to vote on which cult movie you would like the Frighten Brighton Cinematheque to screen…and now the votes are in! The winner was Jake West’s British vampire epic RAZOR BLADE SMILE (1998) starring the stunning and sexy cult movie star Eileen Daly! So come and join us in the basement of The Globe for a fun free night of fear and fangs!

For all you fans of classic horror out there, this Saturday the 25thFebruary marks the second Frighten Brighton event at the Rock Inn Kemptown.

Last years Frighten Brighton was a great success and this one promises to be another fun-filled horror fuelled event – with more films, quizzes, giveaways, book signings and even a ghost story in the haunted basement. And Brighton’s very own Macabre Market will be onsite, featuring loads of stalls selling a variety of horror-themed loveliness.

The event starts at Mid-day Saturday 25th February. Tickets are £6 for the double bill starting at 5pm – everything else, including the 2pm screening of Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell – is free!

The good news is that Sarah has contacted me to say more of these tours are planned for the upcoming year, with a Cemetery walk on July 1st 2012 and the Victorian Death & Mourning tour taking place as part of the Brighton Festival on Bank Holiday Monday 7th May and Saturday 19th May 2012.

I can’t recommend these enough; the cemetery is a beautiful Brighton landmark worth exploring in its own right and Sarah’s talks bring the history of this place to life in such a fun and evocative way.

For more information please visit her website, Sarah’s Events, which is updated regularly and full of other exciting events, including an intriguingly sounding ‘Hidden House’ tour going behind the scenes at Preston Manor.

The not so good news is that she has also informed me that The Centre for Community Engagement at Sussex University is being closed down with the loss of 231 associate lecturers plus all other staff.

This centre offers part-time and flexible learning for people from all walks of life and it would be such a sad loss to the community if it was to go. Please sign the petition to keep it open! The petition can be signed HERE (and is also accessible through Sarah’s web page).

Cyberschizoid and Scare Sarah, the team behind the successful Classic Horror Campaign film screenings across the UK present the first in a series of Brighton based horror events.

Frighten Brighton is taking place at The Rock Inn, Brighton on Saturday 3rd December from midday. The event will consist of a horror movie triple bill alongside a Macabre Market, a book signing from local horror writer N.J.Hallard (Breaking News : An Autozombiography) , a horror quiz, fancy dress competition and free giveaways courtesy of Rue Morgue, the world’s leading horror culture magazine.

The horror screenings begin at 2pm and feature Frankenstein & the Monster From Hell (1974), The Entity (1981) and Night of the Living Dead (1990) all for only £6 admission per person. Entrance to the Rock Inn pub and Macabre Market are free.

Fancy a rummage through some gifts with a vintage twist this Christmas? The Yard Vintage and Makers Market is open every 2nd & 4th Sunday in November and every Sunday in December in the run up to Christmas.

Diplocks Yard (73 North Road, Brighton) is just a few minutes walk from Brighton Station and is free!

Open from 11am – 5pm, The Yard is an all-weather, semi-covered venue with its own Cafe. Expect to find loads of vintage goodies from clothes, jewellery, china & homewares. There are loads of stalls selling unique and unusual gifts with a vintage twist, including our very own vintage book stall House of Secrets.

For up to the minute information check outThe Yard’s facebook page HERE. Hope to see you soon!

The Bring Classic Horror Back to Television Alliance is a Brighton-based campaign, fronted by UK Scream Queen Emily Booth and currently supported by various celebrities including Jeremy Dyson, Andy Nyman (Ghost Stories), Reese Shearsmith (League of Gentlemen), actress Eileen Daly, best-selling author David Moody and Hammer Horror stalwarts Shane Briant and Caroline Munro.

They aim to keep building awareness of this campaign through various magazines, film festivals and a series of events and classic horror film screenings starting in Brighton.

“In a world where television has become so bland it is now impossible to find any of the classic old horror films being screened anywhere, even on the BBC. Back in the 70’s and 80’s BBC2 ran a popular season of Saturday night Horror Double Bills every summer, which was a showcase for all the best in classic horror as well as some more obscure cult movies. Kids and parents alike looked forward to these iconic screenings every weekend and many of today’s top horror writers, actors and producers have claimed to have been inspired by these Horror Double Bills.Our aim is to bring back these classic horror double bills to the BBC so that these iconic movie moments can be shared and appreciated by a whole new generation.”

Having puffed ourselves out cheering on the runners at this year’s Brighton marathon we are in dire need of some fried food fortification. It’s a beautiful spring day and too nice to sit inside so we head to St. James street to try out a garden cafe we’ve had our eye on for a while.

Destination 100 sits right next door to another one of our favourite eateries The Street. Since Destination also boasts an outside garden, today seemed the perfect chance to try out their breakfast.

Inside, the cafe is cool, clean and uncluttered with a large sandwich counter showing off an array of mouth watering goodies. Specials on offer include Cottage Pie and Lasagne, both with salad and chips for £3.95.

There is also big selection of sandwiches and baguettes on offer as well as the usual range of lunchtime toasties, pizza slices and jacket potatoes.

We place our order and head into the garden. I’m having the veggie and D the Full English, both come with toast and cost £3.95.

The paved seating area outside is lovely; it’s clean and modern with plenty of sun and potted palms and not a wibbly wobbly table in sight.

Vegetarian breakfast

Tea and coffee is served in elegant white china embellished with the Cafe’s logo. Service is very friendly and courteous with the staff going out of their way to check we have everything we need to enjoy our food.

Full English Breakfast

The breakfasts are both tasty, well presented and served nice and warm on big china plates. The portions are very generous and I particularly enjoyed the home cooked flavour to the mushrooms. The eggs were very nicely done with no burnt edges in sight. This was a nice, relaxing breakfast with the peaceful outside garden making us feel a millon miles away from the bustling traffic and busy marathon crowds.

Last weekend the World Horror Convention 2010 came to Brighton – the first time the WHC has ever been held outside of the USA. For four days we found ourselves wandering the twisty turny passages embowelled deep within the Albion Hotel enjoying all things horror and literary.

We turned up Thursday afternoon to register and collect our big bag of freebies – including a fantastic souvenir anthology featuring contributions from attending guests of honour and illustrated by some of the genre’s major artists. I was also most pleased with my complimentary Mammoth Book of Zombie Comics.

There was a lot to keep us busy throughout the weekend – with a programme packed full of panel discussions, readings, art shows, interviews, parties, launches, workshops and more besides. Highlights included Ramsey Campbell’s late night ghost stories and the fabulous James Herbert being interviewed by surprise guest Neil Gaiman.

This was a great opportunity to listen and learn from all the great masters of the macabre in attendance, as well as a chance to check out some of the newer writers in horror. As usual though, I bought too many books and wish there had been more time!